Community Project or person of the year
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY
This year, we have decided to do things a bit differently. Instead of using our expert judges to decide this year’s winner of the Community Project or Person of the Year award, we want you, the public, to decide. We want to see the impact this year’s brilliant finalists have had on the Northamptonshire community.
Take a look at this year’s finalists below, watch their videos, read all about them and vote for your winner!
THIS YEAR’S FINALISTS
Franklins Solicitors –
The Franklins £50 Challenge
The Franklins £50 Challenge is an annual three-month fundraising campaign that supports
a selection of local charities from Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes.
Businesses or community groups choose which of Franklins’ charity partners they wish
to support and form a team. Franklins then gives each team a £50 seed funding and the teams have three
months to invest and reinvest the money to raise as much money as possible for their nominated charity.
Since the challenge started in 2018, more than £135,000 has been raised. In 2024, the challenge
raised £35,733, and the number of charities supported was increased from five to eight. The theme
for the 2024 challenge was ‘Fighting Hunger, Fuelling Wellness, Changing Local Lives’. A total of 40 teams
took part in the Franklins £50 Challenge in 2024, ranging from sole traders through to large corporates.
Franklins Solicitors dedicated a huge amount of time, money and resource to planning and executing the
campaign, providing the seed funding given to teams to start their fundraising, and funding the awards
event for nearly 150 guests.
Vulcan Works
Vulcan Works provides, lettable office space, creative workspaces, meeting rooms and
co-working spaces for creative and digital businesses from the heart of Northampton’s Cultural Quarter.
The facility opened in February 2023 after West Northamptonshire Council was tasked
with restoring some disused, period properties and providing something new for the community.
The development has created 68 lettable units, including office, studio and managed
workshop space, in units ranging from 100 to 1,000 square feet.
Vulcan Works has firmly established itself as a vital part of the local business community
and economy, winning awards for innovation and its positive impact across Northamptonshire
and providing a home to more than 30 businesses.
In addition, it has also become the ‘go to’ place for co-working, meetings and events
in Northampton for the local business community and is the regular venue for The
Marketing Meetup, Entrepreneurs Circle, Digital Northants, Coworking Club and NN1 Dev Club.
Vulcan Works has also expanded its business support offering, linking up with some
trusted national partners such as Barclays Eagle Labs and NatWest, and local business
support organisations like SEMLEP, Northampton BID, NNBN and Digital Northants
to offer practical business support, networking and workshops.